It's pretty cool when your kid says her first word....

...it's cooler to get it on video.



Josie said Da-Da for the first time last night at her Nana's house while I was getting her ready for bed.

And again...



Sandi jokes that until she can say Mama, I've got baby duty.

Score!

He wasn't kidding.

My brother, who has his own 2+ year old, told me the following before Josie was born...

The hours may seem long at times, but the weeks and months fly by.

Well, after seven months, it is so incredibly true.

Now, like my brother, being a Dad kicks more ass than SEAL Team 6. But that doesn't mean there are times now and again where you wonder what in the heck you can do to help stop that little kid from crying. And it seems to last forever. It's challenging. It wears you out. But neither my brother nor I would trade it for anything.

But the weeks and the months? They go by fast. Like. Really fast.

So it's sort of amazing that today marks Josie's 7 month birthday.

She's got a little more hair than she had last month. A couple more pounds (believe it or not). And she is about a nanosecond from crawling all over God's green earth.

I've also heard from some of my old friends in DC that don't have kids. They wonder if I miss "the old life". Sure, it was tons of fun. But this... THIS is amazing.

I mean, what better way to start your morning than...



Seriously. EVERY morning is like that. Happiest kid ever.

Dad and Mom, too.

Green eggs and no ham

It's Lent.

Of course, that means no meat on Fridays for Catholics like us.

So building off that requirement and our discovery that today was Dr. Seuss' birthday, Sandi decided to get a little creative.

Here was dinner tonight.

And believe it or not, green eggs aren't half bad.

They could not, would not make me sad. They could not, would not make me mad.

All growns up...

Every parent wonders what their kid will look like when they grow older. Sure, the last thing you want are the years to quickly go by, but you can't help but be curious whether she'll look like Mom or Grandma. Like Pappy or Nana. As long as she doesn't look like the mailman...

So we did a little experiment. I'm not sure it worked.


That's Josie in one of her Mom's outfits. She looks quite professional, if I say so myself.

Your Moment of Cuteness...

I imagine this will be a running aspect of the Team Keeling blog.


And finally...

The monitor we use to listen and watch Josie has a fun little intercom that we've never really felt a need to try to utilize... until recently.

As our little kiddo becomes more and more aware, it's fun to play a little game and see what she does.

In this case she hears a voice coming from... somewhere ... and looks straight up at the Monitor and wonders how her Mother could fit into such a tiny, little box.



The kid is even ridiculously cute in infrared. Amazing.